Nellie wants Crawford to Opt-out

[nycballer]

Before I get to Don Nelson’s new love-hate thing with Jamal Crawford, let’s review the absent Warriors, shall we?

* Monta Ellis is still not with the team (at least as far as I know) due to a combination of a family issue and a stiff ankle, which he either has or is about to have examined by doctors.

His comeback so far: 13 games in a Warriors uniform.

Nobody seems to know when he’ll be back, though the Warriors said more than a week ago that they expected him back during this road trip, which only has two games and three days left to go.

* Brandan Wright hurt his shoulder on Jan. 7 and has barely been seen since, though it was not at the time presumed to be a very serious injury.

* Andris Biedrins played in the Warriors’ lost at Chicago last night, but MT-2 reports that Biedrins has returned to the Bay Area for a family matter and it’s uncertain if Biedrins will make it back to the team in time for tomorrow’s game in Detroit. (Or probably Saturday’s game in Milwaukee, I’d imagine.)

Have I missed anybody? Hard to keep track of all these departing Warriors and their ever-fuzzy, always elongated return dates.

I think the easy summary is this: This is an incredibly unstable period, and Nelson is only making it more and more unstable with every day. (Psst: THAT’S HIS SPECIALITY.)

Now let’s get to the Crawford situation. I’ve heard that when Nelson explained Crawford’s recent one-game benching, he spoke about getting the younger players more time, etc, etc.

But Nelson also told Crawford that he was doing the complete benching in order to help Crawford’s per-game averages, all the better for when (or if) Crawford opts-out, which Nelson very much wants him to do this summer.

That is a loud and clear NBA message, by the way. By even mentioning the opt-out (Crawford can erase the final two years and $19M+ on his deal), Nelson was indicating to Crawford that Nelson wanted him to opt-out.

Even more, Nelson was suggesting that Crawford HAD BETTER OPT-OUT or else Nelson would probably make sure that the situation next year isn’t to Crawford’s liking.

My understanding is that Crawford’s reaction was the same as any proud player’s reaction: Why in the world should I be pushed into a decision like that?

First off, I don’t know if Crawford is going to opt-out, but the shrinking economy tells you that he is unlikely to get better than $20M guaranteed to him on the open market this summer, especially when his coach is not-so-privately grousing about him.

Secondly, nobody has been more critical of Crawford’s defensive liabilities than me, but NBA value is NBA value and you don’t want to be blasting your player’s value as dismissively as that.

Thirdly, I heard Nelson not long ago say that Crawford was his best point guard and that the other candidates weren’t the right fit at the 1. What in the world is going on?

Hmm. I’ve written time and again that Ellis and Nelson is not a good mix (and have been yelled at and let’s please all remember who was doing the yelling as this plays out).

Marco Belinelli is getting yanked in and out of the heavy rotation of late.

Nelson is trying to shove Crawford into opting out, and therefore messing up Crawford’s marketability, which, in the end, probably will drive Crawford NOT to opt out this summer. (That’s after handling the Al Harrington situation SOOOO well, then trading Harrington for Crawford.)

I repeat: What in the world is Nelson doing? If you guess that he’s trying to make things as messy as possible, either to shake up the Warriors or to make his firing (with TWO YEARS and $12M left on the deal after this season) as inevitable and quick as possible…

Well, those are good guesses. Can’t wait until the next Don Nelson Show.

SOURCE: Warriors update: Is Don Nelson playing opt-out mind games with Crawford? | Talking Points
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